Hope N Chandrasekaran Will Restore Tata Group Values: India Inc

New Delhi: India Inc on Friday welcomed the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as Tata Sons’ chairman, hoping he would restore the conditions befitting the values and ethos of the salt-to-steel conglomerate, which has seen a lot of bad blood recently in the country’s most bitter boardroom battle. “Chandrasekaran has a task cut out before him, which is to maintain the leadership of the Tata Group in India Inc without letting some unsavoury past events come in the way. In a way, I am sure, resolution of the issues which had cropped up would be faster with the leadership being well settled now,” Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

The chamber expressed confidence that the new Tata Group head would reach out to all stakeholders, including minority shareholders, and restore the “best of conditions befitting the values and ethos of one of the most respected conglomerates in the world”.

Over two months after the unceremonious sacking of Cyrus Mistry, $103-billion Tata Group on Thursday named TCS chief N Chandrasekaran as the new Executive Chairman of Tata Sons. “We have had the privilege of his involvement in a number of initiatives and look forward to working with him even more closely as he starts his journey of leading the largest business group of the country. “His impeccable record in financial achievements and standards of corporate governance would, no doubt, set new benchmarks for Indian and global industry. We wish him all the very best,” CII President Naushad Forbes said.

Popularly known as ‘Chandra’, the 54-year-old will take charge of Tata Sons, the main holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate from February 21. Chandrasekaran was the CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services, the cash-cow for the group, since 2009. A Tata lifer, he had joined the company in 1987. He was appointed as a Director on the board of Tata Sons on October 25, 2016, just a day after Mistry’s removal.